


papers, caffeine and the spaces in between

by elysianpeaches



Category: Dangan Ronpa - All Media Types, New Dangan Ronpa V3: Everyone's New Semester of Killing
Genre: M/M, happy saiouma day!!, written for the saiouma exchange on Twitter
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-10
Updated: 2018-03-10
Packaged: 2019-03-29 13:41:23
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,869
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13928274
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/elysianpeaches/pseuds/elysianpeaches
Summary: Here's to the benefits of sleep deprivation and coffee.





	papers, caffeine and the spaces in between

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Vocachuuu](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Vocachuuu/gifts).



> Written for the saiouma exchange on Twitter. Prompt: coffee shop or soulmate AU. Went with the first one! This is for you, Voca! Hope you like it! :D

 

Coffee.

 

_ Coffee _ .

 

_ Coffee coffee coffee coffee coffee coffee coffee coffee coffee coffee coffee coffee coffee coffee coffee coffee coffee coffee coffee coffee coffee coffee coffee coffee coffee coffee coffee coffee coffee coffee coffee. _

 

That’s the only thing running through Shuuichi’s mind as he makes his way to the coffee shop. He hadn’t meant to stay up the whole night, but lo and behold, here he is. Sleep deprived and in front of the nearest coffee shop he could find, because of course, he just had to run out of coffee sachets at home. Pushing the door forward, a chime rings throughout the room. Shuuichi lets the sound go through his ears before he opens his eyes. He scans the room before him.

 

He sighs. Of course, the one day he chooses to actually step out of his comfort zone, it’s packed with people. He grips his laptop firmly, and walks towards the counter. At the very least, he can order a coffee to go. Scanning the menu, he settles for something stronger than what he’d usually go for. His eyes land on the cashier and he offers a timid smile. “I’ll have an iced cold brew. To go, please.”

 

The cashier nods, and Shuuichi hands her the money. He moves to the other counter and leans against it, waiting for his beverage. He lets his eyes scan the room once more, his eyes landing on a few people. One, in particular, caught his attention.

 

A short boy, with purple eyes and purple streaks in his hair. He’s kind of cute, Shuuichi notes. There are books and papers scattered in front of him, with no space at all. He’s in the middle of stacking cups, and Shuuichi frowns slightly, because judging by the…  _ extremely  _ colourful drink (that Shuuichi’s sure is 80% sugar and 20% water)  that’s set on the table, the boy’s probably gonna crash after a major sugar rush. It can’t be healthy to have that in the morning-

 

The other boy catches his stare.

 

_ Fuck. _

 

The boy throws a grin at him that could almost be mistaken for half amusement and half flirtation, but Shuuichi immediately averts his gaze.  _ Great, just great.  _

 

He knows that his appearance is probably less than appealing after the long night of cramming. He barely had time to push the wrinkles down, minimizing their presence, and just threw his hat over his disheveled deep blue hair before bolting out the door. He also remembers the lack of socks as well, given his desperation. Groaning inwardly, Shuichi pulls his hat over his gaze and continues to maintain his focus on his sole reason for living currently.

 

Despite the number of customers, the staff was surprising well prepared, and it doesn’t take long for his order to be up. Graciously thanking the woman, the intense need in his tone must be obvious for she smiles at him and a light laughter escapes her lips.

 

_ Alright, enough embarrassment for one day, time to return to the books. _ With that, he quickly turns on his heel and makes a break for the door.  _ Let’s see, I finished Japanese language, now I’ve got to tackle English and then Math, after that I shou- _ His thoughts are interrupted by a sudden loss of balance and the drink he so urgently required to continue slips from his hands. 

 

He can only watch in horror as it lands all over the boy with the purple hair, mouth gaped in a perfect ‘o’ formation as their eyes make contact for the second time.

 

_ This  _ **_cannot_ ** _ be happening. _

 

There’s silence between them. The coffee drips off the shorter boy, and Shuuichi can only watch in increasing horror as he takes a tissue and calmly wipes the liquid off his pants. Once he’s done, the purple haired boy just looks at him. Shuuichi bites his lip, waiting for his reaction. He could have bolted at any time, but no, his legs just had to give up on him. Now he’s stuck here, on the floor and waiting for his death via a cute, short guy who was probably going to yell at him and-

 

Wait. 

 

Was he  _ laughing _ ?

 

Shuuichi stares at him, as the other just laughs. His laughter ceases and he turns to Shuuichi, with a big grin on his face.

 

“Thanks. I’ve never felt warmer in my entire life.”

 

And that’s all it takes for Shuuichi to start laughing because holy crap, he spills coffee on a cute guy and the guy’s not even mad?  _ And he makes a joke out of it? _ That turned out way better than he thought it would. He picks himself up and offers the other a small smile.

 

“I’m really sorry about this..” He fiddles with the brim of his cap and tries to maintain eye contact with the other. It’s really hard, because now that he’s up close, he swears he can see a lilac sky in the shorter man’s eyes and damn it, Shuuichi really needs a caffeine boost and some sleep, because he can’t hep thinking that  _ it’s beautiful _ . “I didn’t mean to trip..”

 

The other boy instantly pouts, and it throws Shuuichi off guard. “What? Does that mean you didn’t fall for  _ me _ instead?”

 

He starts crying.

 

Shuuichi panics because, for one, he didn’t expect him to start flirting _ and  _ crying at the same time and two, he doesn’t know how to deal with this. He takes a step forward though, because he might as well try to stop what he apparently started. “A-ah, please don’t cry, I didn’t mean to-”

 

The crying stops immediately and the taller boy is met with a mischievous grin. “But perhaps that was a lie!”

 

“...W-what?” 

 

Now Shuuichi’s just confused.  _ How did he stop crying so easily? Or were those tears just… fake? _

 

“Nishishi! Just kidding!” The shorter man leans back in his chair. “I’m a liar! Or am I? Who knows? Putting that aside, you ruined my favourite shirt and some of my notes!” He pouts again. “It’s gonna cost you, you know!”

 

“C-cost me? How much?”

 

“Oh, it’s not a matter of how much it costs. That’s not what I want.” Shuuichi’s graced with another smile. “I don’t want money, possessions or anything else like that…”

 

He gives another smile. “What I want is.. your life.”

 

It could just be his sleep deprived brain, but Shuuichi’s not sure how to react to that. But the logical part of his brain decides that the shorter boy was about as harmful as a dust bunny. He's not entirely sure as to how he came to that conclusion but he'll go along with it.  
  


“That’s a lie though. But you are responsible for ruining some of my notes.” He gestures towards the coffee-soaked notes. “Ah, this took me so many hours… all my blood, sweat, tears and ink1 All gone to waste! That’s a lie though. I had my roommate make a copy of these, Or is that just another lie?” He tilts his head.

 

This guy is cute, he won’t deny that. Had it been a normal day, Shuuichi would’ve entertained his lies. But Shuuichi’s tired and just wants another coffee. Perhaps… “Okay, listen. I’m going to order another coffee and I’ll be right back.” He turns around and heads towards the counter.

 

_ “Make sure to not spill it this time~!” _

 

Shuuichi groans.

 

* * *

 

“So let me get this straight. You..” Shuuichi points to the other boy, who had introduced himself as Kokichi Ouma. “... want my life.” He points back to himself.

 

Kokichi grins and nods, happily sipping the drink Shuuichi had gotten him as an apology. The taller boy decided to ignore how cute he looks. “Pretty much! What do you say, Shuuichi?”

 

Shuuichi leans back in his chair. He had seated himself across Kokichi earlier after getting their drinks. “I have a proposal.”

 

Now, Shuuichi’s no fool. He’s helped his uncle with many cases at his detective agency and he’s gotten a knack for solving things. He wouldn’t say he was amazing but he could handle most things. With all those lies earlier, he had concluded that Kokichi was a mystery.. and Shuuichi wanted to figure him out. This might be one of the stupidest things he's done but heck, he's had a rough night and maybe it's time to do something fun.

 

Kokichi quirks an eyebrow but his smile doesn’t waver. “Continue.”

 

“I’ll help you rewrite your notes. We can do it together, in this coffee shop. I’ll help you with them.” Shuuichi leans forward. “I’ll help you for this whole week.”

 

He watches as Kokichi continues to sip his drink, a blank look on his face He starts to get antsy when there’s no response, but then Kokichi is smiling at him again. “It’s a deal. But you’re paying for our drinks!”

 

“I… fine. I’ll pay for that too.” Shuuichi sighs. He supposes that agreeing with him would save him a lot more trouble. “Here, pass me your phone. I’ll put in my number.”

 

A purple flip phone is handed to him and it takes all of Shuuichi’s willpower to not stare at the amount of chains on said phone. It reminded him somewhat of a child's phone but he guesses he shouldn’t judge. He types in his number and hands it back to him.

 

“So, uh.. Just text me when you’re free.” He stands up and picks up his items. “I have to head home now, but let’s meet again tomorrow.”

 

“Nah, that’s a terrible time.”

 

“You’re lying again, aren’t you?” Shuuichi smiles.

 

“Ooh, you caught me! Can’t help that, I guess.” Kokichi grins up at him. “Yeah, see you tomorrow, Shuuichi. I’ll be looking forward to our date~”

 

He can feel the heat rising in his cheeks. “See you tomorrow, Kokichi.”

 

The shorter boy laughs and waves him off.

 

* * *

 

 

As Shuuichi leaves the coffee shop, he can’t help smiling. This wasn’t how he’d expected his day to go. But hey, he‘s got coffee, and a meet-up with Kokichi tomorrow. Things could have gone a lot worse. 

 

His phone beeps and Shuuichi flips it open to see a text from Kokichi.

 

“ Kokichi Ouma :  _ Don’t forget tomorrow, and I hope you won’t be running latte! Nishishi. _ ”

 

Shuuichi doesn’t even think twice before replying.

 

“ Shuuichi Saihara:  _ Hopefully the weather will be brewtiful tomorrow _ _. _ ”

 

Sliding his phone back into his pocket, he sips his coffee and hums all the way home. Maybe it’s a good thing he ran out of coffee sachets this morning.

 

Shuuichi briefly wonders how Kaede would react if he told her how his day went.

 

* * *

 

Kokichi Ouma:  _ Rantarou. Dude. You gotta help me. _

 

Rantarou Amami:  _ What is it, Kokichi? _

 

Kokichi Ouma: _ I MET A REALLY CUTE GUY AT THE COFFEE SHOP AND I MAY HAVE INTENTIONALLY TRIPPED HIM. HE FELL AND RUINED MY SHIRT AND NOTES. BUT HE WAS NICE ABOUT IT AND HE’S HELPING ME REWRITE MY NOTES _

 

Kokichi Ouma: _ AND HE KNOWS HOW TO PUN _

 

Kokichi Ouma:  _ HE KNOWS HOW TO PUN, RANTAROU _

 

Kokichi Ouma:  _ he’s too good for this world idk what to do ughhh are feelings always this gross _

 

Kokichi Ouma:  _ STOP LAUGHING YOU DICK YOU LIVE NEXT DOOR I CAN LITERALLY HEAR YOU _

 

Kokichi Ouma:  **_RANTAROU_ **

**Author's Note:**

> I hope you liked it, Voca! Kokichi is a complex character to write, but god, do I love the challenge. And I love him too. :"D Special thanks to Hikari, Gomi and Choco for helping me with certain parts!


End file.
